Welcome to “This Week In Crazy,” The National Memo’s weekly update on the wildest attacks, conspiracy theories, and other loony behavior from the increasingly unhinged right wing. Starting with number five:
5. Mike Vanderboegh
Most of the Republican Party and the media moved on from erstwhile right-wing hero Cliven Bundy after he revealed himself to be a racist whackjob, but plenty of “citizen soldiers” like Mike Vanderboegh are still keeping vigil at his Nevada ranch.
Let’s see how that’s going:
“All over this country, we are still staring civil war in its bloody face,” Vanderboegh rages in the above video, which was obtained by Right Wing Watch. “To believe otherwise is to whistle past the graveyard of our own history.”
The main target of Vanderboegh’s anger is Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), who infamously referred to Bundy and his militia supporters as “domestic terrorists.” Towards the end of the video, Vanderboegh pulls out a human skull, and offers it to the senator as the “2014 Award for Incitement to Civil War.”
“Don’t poke the wolverine with a sharp stick, Harry,” Vanderboegh warned. “Unless you want your balls ripped off.”
4. Louie Gohmert
U.S. Representative and drone sniper Louie Gohmert (R-TX) sat for an interview with The Blaze on Tuesday, where he discussed the Phoenix Veterans Affairs health care scandal. The facility allegedly put patients on a secret waiting list to mislead them about wait times for appointments, and 40 veterans allegedly died while awaiting treatment.
There is still no evidence that any of this actually happened. But Gohmert, of course, doesn’t need it. He already knows the horrible truth: Death panels are here!
“Unfortunately, this is where socialized medicine always goes,” Gohmert explained. “And some of our friends say, ‘We don’t have to worry about Obamacare, it will fall of its own weight.’ No, it doesn’t.”
“Socialized medicine never falls of its own weight because you put people on lists and they die waiting to get the treatment and care,” he said.
Not content to let the stupid stop there, host Dana Loesch opined, “I think this goes all the way to the top,” and wondered whether President Obama will resign from office over the still-unfounded allegations. “Is that going to happen? Or do we have to wait for an entire change of guard in 2016 to get some justice in this?” she asked.
Gohmert, unsurprisingly, responded that we shouldn’t have to wait that long to remove the president from office — because John Boehner should appoint a special committee to “get to the bottom” of what happened in Benghazi.
3. Joseph Farah
In a segment that was always destined to end up on this list, on Tuesday, WorldNetDaily editor Joseph Farah joined far-right paranoiac Alex Jones for a conversation on race in America.
After agreeing that Cliven Bundy should be proud that the New York Times “saw him as such a threat that they had to kill him politically,” the conspiracy kings’ discussion turned to the Los Angeles Clippers’ banned owner, Donald Sterling.
“What would have happened if the owner of the Clippers had been a Republican?” Jones asked.
“That’s a great question,” Farah said with a laugh. “Every Republican would be asked, on camera, to denounce him.”
“Of course we see nothing like that,” Farah continued. “He’s a big-time Democrat, as you know…a lifelong Democrat.”
From there, Farah went on to explain that only Democrats are racist.
“I know lots of conservative people and Republicans and unless you get into the Republican establishment, country club Republicans, you just don’t find racism there,” he insisted.
Of course, if Farah wants an example of a racist Republican, he need look no further than the aforementioned Sterling. Despite what Farah — and many other right-wingers — gleefully insist, Sterling has been a registered Republican since 1998.
Or, for some significantly crazier examples, Farah could just read his own website.
2. Glenn Beck
Speaking of conspiracy theorists, Glenn Beck’s attacks against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are getting weirder by the day.
On the Tuesday edition of his show, Beck and his co-hosts ripped Clinton for not endorsing gay marriage until 2013.
“Hillary came out last year?” Beck said. “I’m telling you, Hillary Clinton will be having sex with a woman on the White House desk if it becomes popular.”
Of course, if anyone knows about acting insane to gain popularity, it’s Glenn Beck.
Here’s what’s really crazy: That may not even have been Beck’s looniest moment of the week.
1. Allen West
Photo: Gage Skidmore via Flickr
After Donald Sterling’s startling racism went public, regular This Week In Crazy readers knew that it was only a matter of time before the Sterling Truthers emerged. And they certainly did not disappoint.
The conspiracy theories ranged from The Daily Caller’s Patrick Howley — who wondered whether Magic Johnson leaked the tape to steal Sterling’s basketball team — to Rush Limbaugh, who insisted that “the only reason he is in trouble right now is that he did not give enough money to Obama.”
But nobody hit all the right notes better than this week’s “winner,” former congressman Allen West. While West strongly condemned Sterling’s behavior as “despicable” in a Wednesday blog post, he added, “but so is that of President Barack Hussein Obama — and whose abhorrent behavior has more impact on our country?”
“The difference is that the media lead us along like sheep to the slaughter, turning us into reactionary, shallow thinking, low-information voters along the way,” he continued. “We know more about Sterling than Benghazi — or the IRS scandal.”
West followed the same theme during a Wednesday appearance on Fox News Radio.
“[Sterling’s comments are] disgusting. They’re despicable. They’re reprehensible. There’s no doubt about that,” he said. “But what is really concerning is…where is the outrage of the public?”
“The outrage of the public seems to be totally focused on Mr. Sterling but, you know, you’ve got this thing with Benghazi and we have an even bigger lie, an even bigger deceit, which is even more impactful on the country that no one is really caring about,” he added.
For those of you keeping score at home, Donald Sterling’s racism just leapfrogged the Hillary Clinton shoe attack on the list of most audacious attempts to distract America from #Benghazi.
Check out previous editions of This Week In Crazy here. Think we missed something? Let us know in the comments!
